"I've been privileged to lead one of the world's greatest companies," Otellini said, in a statement released by the company. "After almost four decades with the company and eight years as CEO, it's time to move on and transfer Intel's helm to a new generation of leadership."

Intel's board will conduct the process to choose Otellini's successor and will consider internal and external candidates, according to the company statement.

During Otellini's tenure as CEO, Intel has generated cash from operations of $107 billion and made $23.5 billion in dividend payments. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based firm has also increased its quarterly dividend by 181% from 8 cents to 22.5 cents.

The company's annual revenue has climbed from $38.8 billion to $54 billion on the 62-year old Otellini's watch, while annual earnings grew from $1.40 a share to $2.39 a share.

Otellini, who took over from Craig Barrett as Intel CEO in May 2005, is credited with guiding the company through one of the most turbulent periods in U.S. economic history. He also won plaudits for dragging Intel back to its technology roots while bolstering its reputation for innovation.

In the years prior to Otellini's appointment as CEO, Intel had diversified into new areas such as telecom components, a strategy which left the firm searching for direction and also opened the door for arch-rival AMD(AMD) .

Otellini, however, refocused Intel's efforts on its core x86 technology, and has also overseen the company's move into 32-nanometer and 22-namometer technologies, as well as Ultrabooks.

In recent years, though, the company has faced increasingly stiff competition from design rival ARM(ARMH) and graphics chip maker Nvidia(NVDA) .

Shares of Intel, which cited weak demand in its third-quarter results last month, were down 1.49% at $19.89 in early Monday trading.